Actualités
11 Sept 2006
14 DLA Piper Attorneys Named to Lawdragon's 3000 and 500 Leading Lawyers in America
Communiqué de presse
DLA Piper has announced that fourteen attorneys have been named to Lawdragon's 3000 Leading Lawyers in America, and of these attorneys four have been named to Lawdragon's 500 Leading Lawyers in America.
Lawdragon is a legal ranking and news service that provides expert analysis about lawyers and judges. The Lawdragon 3000 and Lawdragon 500 represent less than one percent of the legal profession, and the service describes its listing as the most elite group of legal professionals compiled in the country. The Lawdragon guide is created through a combination of online balloting and independent research based on reviews by clients and peers, as well as interviews with other legal professionals. Inclusion in the final 500 is based on number and quality of votes, how "of-the-moment" a particular practice area or case is, and the impact the individual has on the profession overall.
"We're very proud that our lawyers have received this recognition and, more importantly, we're proud of the fine work they do for our clients every day," said Jeffrey F. Liss, Co-Managing Partner of DLA Piper in the United States.
DLA Piper attorneys included in Lawdragon's 3000 Leading Lawyers in America are Marjorie Sybul Adams, New York; Tracy A. Bacigalupo, Baltimore; Francis B. Burch, Baltimore; Jay A. Epstien, Washington D.C.; Joseph G. Finnerty III, New York; Gregory M. Gallo, East Palo Alto; Robert J. Mathias, Baltimore; Michael E. Meyer, Los Angeles; Lee I. Miller, Chicago; Peter S. Pantaleo, New York; Amy W. Schulman, New York; Jay Smith, Baltimore; Perrie M. Weiner, Los Angeles; and Shirli Fabbri Weiss, San Diego.
DLA Piper attorneys also included in Lawdragon's 500 Leading Lawyers are Jay A. Epstien, Michael E. Meyer, Amy W. Schulman, and Jay Smith. These lawyers will be featured in Lawdragon's fall magazine, due out October 15.
About the Lawyers:
Marjorie Sybul Adams practices in the area of corporate and securities law, with a special emphasis on corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions transactions. She has worked extensively with medical device and other health care companies both as company counsel and as underwriters counsel. She also works frequently with Israeli companies. Adams regularly advises public companies on their Sarbanes-Oxley, SEC, and stock exchange compliance obligations and advises REITS, investment advisers and hedge fund managers in connection with the Investment Company Act of 1940 and the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. She is a member of DLA Piper's firmwide Policy Committee.
Tracy A. Bacigalupo practices in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, venture capital transactions, intellectual property law and general corporate and real estate investment trust law. She counsels entities organized under Maryland law -- including REITs and investment companies headquartered across the country -- on corporate governance issues, including issues relating to duties of directors, interested director transactions, board and stockholder meetings, board committee functions, charter and bylaw provisions and takeover defenses. Bacigalupo also advises clients on intellectual property development, protection and enforcement strategies, as well as software development and licensing arrangements. Bacigalupo is a member of the Committee on Negotiated Acquisitions of the ABA's Section of Business Law, and the Maryland State Bar Association's Committee on Corporate Laws. Bacigalupo was recently also recognized by Lawdragon as one of its "500 New Stars, New Worlds".
Francis B. Burch, Jr. is Joint Chief Executive Officer of the firm and a partner in the litigation group concentrating on securities, corporate and business tort litigation. Burch is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and a member of the American Law Institute. He is listed in
Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, The Best Lawyers in America (in Business Litigation), Woodward & White,
Marquis Who's Who in American Law, Marquis Who's Who in America and
Marquis Who's Who in the World. Burch is a trustee of Johns Hopkins University, Johns Hopkins Medicine, the University of Maryland Baltimore Foundation and The Jemicy School. He is past Chairman of the Board of The Greater Baltimore Committee, The University of Maryland School of Law and The Leadership of Greater Baltimore and has served on the boards of the Baltimore Museum of Art, Calvert School in Baltimore and Dome Corporation.
Jay A. Epstien is the national chair of the Real Estate practice group, and a member of the firm's U.S Executive Commitee. He represents local and national owners, developers and users in all aspects of real estate transactions involving urban office buildings, shopping centers and multifamily residential projects. Epstien has been the lead lawyer on many of the largest downtown office leases in Washington, D.C. He represents both landlords and tenants, including numerous law firms that have sought his counsel. Epstien represented Target on its development activities in the Mid-Atlantic region, which involved the acquisition of more than 20 sites for construction of free-standing facilities. Based on peer and client reviews, Epstien was selected as the Top Real Estate Lawyer in Washington, D.C. by both the
Washington Business Journal and Chambers & Partners, a respected English research firm. In addition, Chambers named him one of only two "star" real estate lawyers in the United States. Epstien also is listed in
The Best Lawyers in America, An International Who's Who of Real Estate Lawyers, and PLC's
Global Counsel Handbook of Corporate Real Estate. Most recently, he was listed in
Who's Who Legal: The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers.
Joseph G. Finnerty III is the Chair of the New York Litigation Practice Group, a litigation partner and a member of DLA Piper's firm wide Policy Committee. His commercial litigation practice is concentrated in securities and business litigation for corporate clients and individuals, and counseling and litigation for the country's leading insurance companies. Finnerty defends public and private companies and their management against claims for breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, and securities violations, and he frequently represents the insurance industry's leading companies, including The Chubb Group of Insurance Companies, Zurich Financial, St. Paul Travelers, The ACE Group of Companies, The Hartford and CNA Insurance Companies, as well as various Lloyd's syndicates and London underwriters, among many others. He is listed in Marquis Who's Who in American Law and Marquis Who's Who in America, and was named a New York Super Lawyer by Law & Politics in 2006.
Greg M. Gallo concentrates in public offerings; mergers and acquisitions; new company formations; venture capital financing; joint ventures; technology transfers; and general business counseling.The respected global legal publisher Chambers & Partners lists Gallo in
Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business. In 2005, Gallo was named a Northern California Super Lawyer as the result of a joint research project conducted by
Law & Politics and
San Francisco magazines. In 2001, The Lawyer named him one of the Top 10 Silicon Valley Lawyers. In 1998, he was named one of California's 100 most influential lawyers by
California Law Business.
Robert Mathias concentrates his practice on business litigation, intellectual property litigation and white collar criminal advice to corporate clients. He is Joint Global Leader and U.S. Chair of the firm's Litigation practice and also a member of the firm's Global Board and U.S. Executive and Policy committees. Based on peer and client reviews, Mathias has been selected as one of America's leading litigation lawyers by Chambers & Partners, a respected English research firm, and is listed in
Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business. Mathias is also listed in
Who's Who in the World, Who's Who in American Law, The Best Lawyers in America and the
Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America. In 2004,
The Daily Record, the newspaper serving Baltimore's business and legal communities, honored him with its Leadership in Law Award.
Michael E. Meyer is the managing partner of the firm's downtown Los Angeles office, and a member of the firm's firmwide Policy Committee. He is regarded as one of the preeminent leasing attorneys in the U.S., regularly representing many of this country's leading financial institutions, accounting firms, and law firms, as well as major corporations, in major lease transactions throughout the country.
The Daily Journal Extra has placed him on its list of the 100 most influential lawyers in California; the
Los Angeles Business Journal called him one of the 25 most powerful lawyers in California; and he has been named the Corporate Real Estate Network's Man of the Year.
Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business ranked him in the first tier of real estate lawyers in California, and he was the only real estate lawyer named to the list of Southern California's Top Ten Super Lawyers. Most recently, he was listed in the
2005 Who's Who Legal: The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers.
Lee I. Miller is the Joint Chief Executive Officer of DLA Piper. For nearly 30 years, Miller has concentrated his practice in the area of commercial real estate law. He represents clients in a wide range of commercial real estate transactions, including acquisitions and dispositions of portfolios, individual properties and loans, complex financing, joint ventures, syndications, construction contract negotiations and lease preparation and restructuring and workouts of troubled real estate projects. In 2001, Lee Miller received the American Jewish Committee's Judge Learned Hand Human Relations Award for leadership in the legal profession and personal dedication to philanthropic and civic endeavors. Miller was named in
Who's Who in International Real Estate Law, published by Law Business Research, which selects lawyers from around the world who are recognized by in-house counsel and senior business executives. He is a President's Club Member of The Real Estate Roundtable, a real estate organization that brings together leaders of top real estate firms and trade associations to address key national policy issues relating to real estate and the overall economy.
Based on peer and client reviews, Miller has been selected as one of America 's leading real estate lawyers by Chambers & Partners, a respected English research firm. He is listed in
Best Lawyers in America. For the past several years, he has been recognized by
Crain's Chicago Business in their annual listing of "Who's Who in Chicago Business." He has been designated an Illinois Super Lawyer in both 2005 and 2006, as the result of research projects conducted jointly by
Law & Politics and
Chicago magazines.
Peter Pantaleo is a member of the firm's U.S. Executive Committee and is managing partner of the firm's New York office. He represents both domestic and international employers in labor, employment and civil rights matters. The principal focus of his practice is advising employers in complex, politically sensitive labor and employment matters. Pantaleo is recognized as an authority on European Union social policy, a subject on which he has written and lectured extensively. He has lectured extensively at health care and hospitality conferences including the American Federation of Health Systems Annual Conference on the emerging significance of corporate campaigns directed at investor-owned hospitals; American Gaming Congress on Title III of the ADA; and Institute of Directors on the European Union's Directives on Worker Participation Schemes.
Amy Schulman is a Litigation practice group leader and a member of DLA Piper's firmwide Executive, Strategic Planning and Policy Committees. She has an extensive products liability practice with a particular concentration in drug and medical device litigation. Relevant engagements include Prempro, OxyContin, "Phen-Fen," L-tryptophan (dietary supplement), DBCP (pesticide) and latex gloves. Schulman acts as national coordinating counsel and trial counsel. The respected English research firm Chambers & Partners cites her in
Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business.
Jay Smith is co-chair of the US and Global Corporate and Securities practice groups. He focuses in the areas of public offerings of securities, mergers and acquisitions and general representation of public and private companies. Smith's primary area of practice relates to the public and private offering of debt and equity securities and corporate merger and acquisition transactions. Smith also represents both public and private corporations in connection with various business and finance transactions, including the acquisition and divestiture of companies and divisions. He is active in various matters relating to the General Corporation Law and is a member and past chairman of the Corporate Laws Committee of the Maryland State Bar Association, as well as a former member of the Corporate Laws Committee of the American Bar Association. Based on peer and client reviews, the respected English research firm Chambers & Partners cited Smith in
Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business as a "star performer."
Perrie Weiner is the international co-chairman of DLA Piper's Securities litigation group, is a member of the firm's firmwide Policy Committee and is co-managing partner of the firm's Los Angeles office in Century City. He represents private equity funds, including hedge funds, broker-dealers and issuers in SEC and NASD enforcement proceedings, white collar criminal matters, and individual and class action securities fraud and related claims. He also represents private and public companies in both national and international business disputes.Weiner was named a Southern California Super Lawyer in 2004 (one of only 16 securities litigators who made that list), 2005 and 2006, ranking him among the top 5% of all attorneys in Southern California, in peer surveys conducted by
Law and Politics and
Los Angeles magazines. He is cited in
Who's Who in American Law, 2005-2006. In 2004 and 2005, the Los Angeles
Daily Journal cited him as one of California 's Top Mega-Rainmakers, in the $10-Million Club. In 2006,
Securities Law360 ranked him among the top 10 securities litigators in the United States. In 2006, Weiner received the prestigious Burton Award for Legal Achievement for the article "Litigation Strategies: Managing Litigation Risk and Addressing Investor Concerns." The Burton Award, regarded as the Pulitzer prize of the legal profession, is dedicated to the enrichment and refinement of legal writing.
Shirli Fabbri Weiss concentrates in civil trial practice in federal and state courts primarily in California, and is a member of the firm's U.S. Executive Committee. Her practice emphasizes representing companies and directors and officers in securities litigation and companies in mass product liability/consumer litigation; defense of government proceedings on behalf of corporate directors and officers; and representation of special committees of boards of directors. In May 2005, Weiss was named one of California's Top 30 Securities Litigators by the Los Angeles
Daily Journal. Weiss was lead counsel in the
In re Vantive Corporation securities litigation, recognized as one of the Top 10 Defense Wins of 2000 by the Los Angeles and San Francisco
Daily Journals. That case was subsequently affirmed by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in March 2002. Weiss has also been named among the Top 50 Women Litigators in California by the Los Angeles and San Francisco
Daily Journals.
About DLA Piper
DLA Piper has 3,100 lawyers and 59 offices in 22 countries throughout the U.S., U.K., Continental Europe, Middle East and Asia. It has leading practices in commercial, corporate and finance, human resources, litigation, real estate, regulatory and legislative, and technology, media and communications.
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CONTACTS:
Francis B. Burch, Jr., Joint-CEO, DLA Piper, 410.580.4040
Lee Miller, Joint-CEO, DLA Piper, 312.368.4029
Jeffrey F. Liss, Co-Managing Partner, U.S., DLA Piper, 202.861.3940
Lisa Nemon, Media Relations, GreenTarget Global Group, 312.252.4108